1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a head unit, a printer, and a method of manufacturing a head unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been conventionally known a head unit for use in thermal printers, which includes a thermal head and a support body that supports the thermal head (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2009-286063). Printing quality of the thermal printer is affected by the accuracy of lamination between the thermal head and the support body in the head unit. In the method of manufacturing a head unit described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2009-286063, a jig having a plurality of positioning pins is used, and the thermal head is placed on top of the support body to provide three-point support with common positioning pins, to thereby laminate the thermal head and the support body to each other in a positioned state.
The conventional method of manufacturing a thermal head, however, has a disadvantage that, if there are fluctuations in external shape of the thermal head (such as a crack and an inclination on the outer edge part of the thermal head) or if the contact positions between the thermal head and the respective positioning pins are deviated, the thermal head and the support body cannot be laminated to each other in an accurately positioned state.
Further, the accuracy of lamination between the thermal head and the support body is low, with the result that there is a problem that it is difficult to secure printing quality of a printer.